1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to aircraft and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for performing rework on an aircraft. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for generating a template to form a scarf for bonded rework.
2. Background
Aircraft are being designed and manufactured with greater and greater percentages of composite materials. Some aircraft may have more than 50 percent of their primary structure made from composite materials. Composite materials may be used in aircraft to decrease the weight of the aircraft. This decreased weight may improve payload capacities and fuel efficiencies. Further, composite materials may provide longer service life for various components in an aircraft.
Composite materials may be tough, light-weight materials created by combining two or more dissimilar components. For example, a composite may include fibers and resins. The fibers and resins may be combined to form a cured composite material.
Further, by using composite materials, portions of an aircraft may be created in larger pieces or sections. For example, a fuselage in an aircraft may be created in cylindrical sections that may be put together to form the fuselage of the aircraft. Other examples may include, without limitation, wing sections joined to form a wing, or stabilizer sections joined to form a stabilizer.
In forming these components, layers of composite materials may be laid up and cured to form structures for an aircraft. During manufacturing and/or use, inconsistencies may occur in various structures of the aircraft. These inconsistencies may be undesirable and/or may result in less than desired performance of the aircraft.
For example, inconsistencies may occur in composite structures. These inconsistencies may include, for example, without limitation, delamination, voids in or between layers of composite materials, cracks, deformations in the structure, and/or other types of inconsistencies.
When an inconsistency is identified on a composite structure in an aircraft, the structure may be reworked to remove the inconsistency. A rework may involve removing a portion of the composite materials in a section of the composite structure and placing new composite materials into that section. For example, a number of layers of composite material corresponding to the layers of composite material removed in the section may be used as a patch. This patch may be bonded to the section to perform the rework. These operations may be referred to as bonded rework for the aircraft.
Information is obtained about the layers of composite material in the location where the inconsistency is located. This information is obtained to identify layers of material for a patch. This patch is put in place of a section of layers of composite material containing the inconsistency that is removed from the structure. Obtaining this information is often time consuming. Further, identifying the portion of the composite materials to be removed to form a section for which the patch may be placed also may be more time consuming than desired.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that takes into account one or more of the issues discussed above, as well as possibly other issues.